I Tried 10 Different Pleat Styles Cause Learning Is Fun!
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- Опубліковано 10 лют 2025
- I wanted to make a pleated skirt, so step one was learning all about pleats! Come learn with me!
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As a mathematician I can tell you actually have a very mathematical mind! A lot of people believe they're bad at/hate maths because it's taught in such a horrible way. I wish math classes in high school had sewing projects
Yes! Sewing math is the best kind of math because you actually get something awesome from your efforts!
School math is most definitely very prescriptive of "how" you should understand and work with numbers - but there are SO many different ways!
I've had some success, as an adult, with access to the internet, looking at how various teachers, often from different parts of the world, explain math concepts - generally pretty basic ones.
I wish my teachers had recognized my ability to understand other subjects, and my initial excellence early math, as an indication that math was being explained to me "wrong", instead of "a lot of girls have trouble with math", and "she gets good grades, and isn't disruptive" therefore never considering ADHD or struggles with working memory - for which I listed many traits/symptoms/coping strategies, to every teacher I ever talked to. But... 80s/90s. They had no idea.
Fortunately, now I know more about why my brain is how it is, and have access to a world of different explanations. Which is precisely what Dad (dyslexic, and ADHD) has always encouraged. If you don't understand something you want to learn, find a different person to explain it. I just had to get to seeing the utility in order to have the drive to learn the bits that are of interest.
I agree with this! Really I think it comes down to having something physical to compare against, vs only theory. For me, it's always more rewarding to have something physical to demonstrate a concept.
Or cooking projects! I did not learn fractions until cooking (and sewing)!
Cheers
I'm good at math but I hate it. I thought I was bad at it, until I took the ACTs. 32 in math, 28 in English, and I was GREAT at English in high school. I didn't understand how those results were possible for a long time.
Recently, these results were brought up and my dad said he always knew I was good at it, I was just lazy. I was recently diagnosed with ADHD and my psychiatrist strongly suspected I was also autistic. I had seen a video talking about how neurodivergent brains work differently, using cups. Not going to type it all out here, but basically the water level in the ADHD cups changes randomly and without ability to control.
I wasn't lazy, I just could not force myself to concentrate on it at that specific time. I always had a B average in math. I think if I'd never been told I was bad or lazy when trying to learn, it might've been higher. Once I was told that, I internalized it.
"I can't just circle skirt everything forever" is the same thing I have told myself for a long time, but I was just like.... If someone has a problem , it's not going to be me hahaha
if it ain’t broke don’t fix it!
This is literally my mentality, like I’ve made pleated circle skirts for costumes because circle 🤷
When you sew the top several inches of a pleat down the process is called a "Fixing" a pleat, the result is a Fixed Pleat. So the third sample you made was Fixed Knife Pleats. Side note when the top of box pleats are only fixed 1-2 inches they're still just box pleats as that's effectively just basting to keep the folds behaving for inserting into the waistband - even if it's visible on the finished piece.
Sometimes people will see references in older books (especially novels) of someone 'Fixing pleats' while working and they assume it's like tweaking and adjusting the math. it's not, it's stitching the tops into place so they don't unfold fully during wear and laundering - as an option before permanent press technology. It was something that sometimes needed to be redone as the flaring of the pleat at the bottom of the seam is a lot of strain on the thread and so they're prone to coming loose over time/wear.
Thank you! My utility kilt, apparently, has fixed pleats.
It's cotton/poly twill. The pleats fixed at the top, and top stitched down every pleat the rest of the way. Definitely makes it easier to iron back into submission. Or even just un-crumple the ones that get sat on, with a hair straightener.
Although, it can be a delightful investment to pay the dry cleaners to handle the whole thing - cleaning, cat hair removal, and immaculate pressing, at the end of the season.
Godet is said Go-day. Lol.
I remember being told a couple of centuries ago when I re-enacted in the UK Tudor Group, that gussets are triangles or diamonds of material secured on all sides, whereas godets are attached only on 2 sides.
Now that I've given you my only 2 pieces of sewing knowledge, I'm learning so much from you. Keep up the great work. 🥰
time stamps for the pleats
knife pleats, casual 7:24
knife pleats, deep 10:20
top stitched knife pleats 12:10
box pleats 13:45
double box pleats 15:30
quadruple box pleats 17:14
inverted pleats 18:10
crystal pleats 19:40
rolled pleats 22:27
military rolled pleats 24:34
thank you lifesaver
I've always been so confused by box pleats vs inverted box pleats because they're literally the same thing!! So glad someone else said it lol
They are the same thing if you pack them right next to each other. If you space them out, that's no longer true.
Moreover, the massing at the waist might differ because where the box lies to the body.
Military rolls, also know as box knife or military box are used to make British Military kilts using an average 7 to 8 yards wide fabric. Just through I'd put that out there as it was praying on my mind. That's a hecking wide piece of fabric.
I love that info, thanks for sharing!
Miss you too. Sorry I didn't see you.
This is so helpful!
I used algebra for the first time in my adult life the other night, thanks to knitting. I was so pleased i texted my friends 😂
Yaaaas all the crafting math! No one ever mentions that it's making stuff that's going to put your high school algebra to use at last.
@@gettheetothestitcheryA while back I made a hat based on a volcano so it needed a cone with a specific height. Trigonometry ensued from turning a head circumference and a cone height into the sector of the circle that was cut out of fabric to make the slopey part of the cone.
Flashing back to designing dresses for my Raggedy Ann doll in my teens. I self-discovered so many pleats.
Glad to see you continuing the tradition of a blood offering to the gods of sewing.
cartridge pleats (also called gauging) (and technically closer to gathering) are largely a historical thing, but they are also BEAUTIFUL. they can be as big or small as you want and still look largely the same, just cramming the more and more fabric into the same space. they allow for easily putting TONS and tons of fabric into a waistband and they are absolutely my favourite style of pleating or gathering. they must, however, be done entirely by hand.
"oh, I'm apparently bleeding. Where is the blood coming from ? Oh, there !" Is the opening music of every crafting person 😂
If you didn’t leave a bloodstain on your project, did you actually sew anything??
If you didn’t leave a bloodstain on your project, did you actually sew anything??
A book recommendation, if visuals are helpful! The Art of Manipulating Fabric by Colette Wolff. It's helped me on my pleated and flouncy journey 😁
The quadruple box pleat would be great for a dramatic back to a long skirt/dress!
Ohhhh. I think i'd like the crystal pleats at the top of my sleeves instead of gathering! 🤔
Loved seeing your examples! I think one aspect missing in this tour of pleats is how fabric and spacing changes the final effect. Inverted box pleats offer more ‘wow’ when they are spaced farther apart. Rolled pleats look very different (and are very functional!) when you are trying to gather a lot of thick material at the waist. That yellow wool rolled pleat example in the beginning of your video is from katafalk’s medieval house dress project. She has some good photos that walk through the process… but it’s a lot of hand sewing 🙃
Thank you for the new word. "Godet" is my favorite type of skirt. It gives the swooshiness of a circle skirt without all the math lol. I would never of thought of it as a pleat either
There has been a major misunderstanding somewhere. It isn´t that a godet is a pleat, but that back in the ´eighties it was fashionable to knife pleat godet insert fabrics before the godet was sewn into the skirt. I recall it was most popular with triangular godets made of lace, but I remember seeing some pleated diamond shaped godets, too. It was a very Stevie Nicks/bohemian look.
there is a reel difference between box pleats and inverted pleats. It does not show in your example (as you mentionned) because the "roight (or left) edge" of a pleat 1 is common with the left/right beginning "edge" of pleat 2. If you make a space between the pleats (like 2 inchs of non-pleated fabric), the difference will be more obvious
Degeena: What USA "roight" side?
@@YT4Readersa typo of right most likely.
Okay, so now you've figured out the easy part (the folds), the truly hard part comes next! Ironing in the rest of the pleat the full length of the fabric. I still shudder when I think back to my 9th grade Home Economics class. It was divided into sewing instruction for half the year and cooking instruction for the other half of the year. It was 1 three hour class a week. Our assignment for sewing was to create a FULLY LINED, matching skirt and vest outfit with the skirt having some type of pleating. Yes, the 2 pieces had to be fully lined because we were using wool fabrics! I've never got past having to iron the pleats into that skirt. Looking back, the outfit actually looked quite good but at 14 years old, what girl wanted a wool skirt and vest? We had to all wear our outfit to school upon completion and I swear we all nearly died from heat exhaustion. Now I know why men take their suit jackets off!
That's quite the assignment! And yikes. If that's a class that ends in June in the northern hemisphere, way to hot!
But I do love that it allows the marking to include whether it fit the wearer correctly. Woe for the inevitable body-judgement, but better than the fashion design programs which strictly teach making commercial samples to fit the mannequin (it's how the industry works - but not much of a life skill).
Any teacher who really understood fitting various body proportions, and taught it with acceptance and encouragement must have been a gift!
MissZ: We made knee length robes with pocket(s). I don't remember if anyone used any other cloth than terry cloth. My mother had already taught me gathered skirt making. In school, we were also taught how to ornament a tea towel with x stitch embroidery. I succeeded in getting a hand sewing needle stuck in my finger, which freaked everybody out. I sat there looking at the needle stuck in my finger and wondering what the correct thing to do next was! We had had a neighbor who has gotten a machine sewing needle stuck in her finger while seeing. She kept the needle in a transparent container on her window sill to remind herself NOT to ever see her finger again. In that class, we learned how to machine sew a button hole, but I used snaps on the robe.
In cooking, we were taught kitchen architecture ( design and furnishing, including refrigerator door opening away from heat of stove). This I actually used when remodeling a 3 bedroom house with corridor kitchen, laundry room, informal dining room, and one bathroom with separate tub and tiled shower into closing one end of the corridor kitchen to add a breakfast bar with stools, a pantry, a cook top with pull out shelves behind closing doors below that, a double oven across the room, turned small laundry room into pantry, added a long laundry room, master bath along the side of the house and connecting the laundry room to each bathroom, adding an exterior deck and a formal dining room with suspended door panels.
Neither of the sub-contractors liked the idea of the 3 suspended door panels until they finished it. Then they liked it. Those were my version of room dividers I has seen in college.
I liked all of the results except the expanded living room. That should have had full length windows rather than head to waist sized windows.
I owned that house 4 years, and the house sold for twice the value of the original mortgage and second mortgage. Last month I checked its currently market value : $1.2 million. I guess I ought to have kept that house.
The remodel also included new, ash wood kitchen cabinets and brick patterned, vinyl tile on kitchen and entry floors. I wallpapered the entry and wallpapered mirrored wallpaper behind the original bathroom mirror.
At the time, I was not aware of walk in closets. If I had been, I would have inserted a walk through closet between the two bathrooms and had the laundry room added along the medium sized bedroom.
The floor space went from 1200 sq ft to about 1600 sq ft.
Apologies for the digression, but home ec education dies change life experience (especially when paired with UCLA senior year Ecological Psychology seminar).
We only did the two sewing and two cooking projects: noodles from scratch and an apple pie each.
Dad had already taught me how to cut a chicken, and Mom had taught me pie making, cake making from scratch, yeast bread and non-yeast bread making, Parkerhouse rolls, cinnamon rolls, cut biscuts, and cookies.
UA-cam DIY instruction is wonderful.
Cartridge pleats can be used in modern clothing and give a lot of swoosh. It just requires a lot of hand sewing
I honestly had no idea there were so many kinds of pleats! I might have to try out a few of these myself to see what I like. I look forward to seeing you doing a smocking video sometime in the future, I bet that will be just magical!
Yeah, the world of pleats is crazy! Can't wait to try smocking myself!
i feel like i was meant to find your channel and our brains are very similar, i’ve been loving your content!! i was looking for a comparison of different gathering/pleating and of course you have a video for it!! thank you!!
You have no idea as me needing this video…in class I was getting sooo frustrated at my self for always asking if I got my pleats right. I have been practicing and practicing and now I found you and I can pause this video when I need to.
I feel like military rolled pleats are just a REALLY big knife pleat folded backwards on itself
i had no idea there were so many types! you said pleats so many times, it began to sound like you were saying "pweats". i certainly hope no one makes a drinking game of it! lol
Ok. So. You have stirred something in my brain that i had forgotten. Smocking. And now i need a pleating iron. UGH. If you want to try smocking on regular fabric, can buy pattern-style paper with iron-on smocking dots printed on it. Godet is pronounced GO-DAY. Is it a pleat? Hmmm... it's an insertion to add volume and swish. My favourite godet designer is Charles James. Go have a look at his work at the Met online and melt like I did lol.
All your numbers make me think of the Fibonacci number sequence. The numbers are special😂😂😂
YES! I'm so glad someone else heard it and got that. 3, 5... 21. All Fibonacci numbers. Even tenths are 2x5ths 😉. I love it when the Fibonacci sequence pops up like that.
Hi, I just stumbled over your videos and really like them! We used to make some thin cardbord-template/mold/former plate to be done more quickly and more regularely with our pleats. It's basically a straight (or angled if you want to do angled pleats) piece of cardbord, more wide than you want the depth of your pleat to be. You mark the depth of your pleat there (and on the other side the distance of your inner pleat edge to the outer peat edge of the next pleat). You iron the "outer edge" first over the straight edge of the cardbord, then once you have that. lay it on the marked line and tuck the rest of the fabric around the cardbord edge (like a Z- where the upper "spike" is ironed and on the marked line, and the lower edge would be snug around the cardbord edge... Hard to describe and english is not my native language, sorry!). Once it's all ligned up, you iron it again (all layers and the cardboard) to fix the depth of the pleat now as well. The cardboard also did help to prevent the edge of the outer pleat edge to leave ugly marks on the lower fabric. Then you turn the fabric around, lay the cardbord with the "pleat distance" side on the pleat edge and iron the "outer pleat edge" over the cardboard edge again. Turn the fabric around, do the pleat depth again and so on... - - - I don't know if it's understandable, but maybe I could give you a way that is faster and more regular than measuring every pleat on its own. (For multiple pleats at the same location we'd use multiple marked cardboard-templates)
Love that info, thank you so much for sharing!
Excellent. (lined)
Oh how I wish they were ironed. I wonder if they'd show their shape better when ironed. However if the final garment won't be ironed, then this is the best way to visualize the final garment.
Ironing pleats definitely does change the look! I should have done a before and after ironing shot now that I think about it... oh well, next time!
The reason I watched this video was to understand pleats for a skirt tutorial (zero waste 18th century skirt) that wants you to use pleating in lieu of just gathering under the waistband. No ironing needed for these pleats, thank goodness.
I am fascinated about pleating now from your research. Thank you.
Now, I want to use the 'tennis skirt' pleat or 'fixed knife pleat" as a comment called it, to sew a skirt over a tankini bathing suit bottom to camouflage bottom cheeks from peaking out. So excited!
A godet is a triangle (or similar) of fabric inserted into a seam or slash to increase the circumference of a hem (skirts, dresses, flared pants or sleeves). A gusset is a typically rectangular piece of fabric inserted under the armpit of a sleeve, or the crotch of pants (mainly in historic garments), to increase range of movement. A gore is a panel of fabric typically in a skirt, a 6 gore skirt would be made of 6 rectangles or circle segments. A gore goes from the top to the bottom. People often use these terms interchangeably though.
There is a type of pleating done on plaid/tartan fabrics that ends up maintaining the plaid repeats. Yes, it is a complicated pleating that if you were to take a photo of the fabric flat and a photo of the pleated fabric, both would show the same plaid design! I think it might be the ¨King Gussie pleating¨ you mentioned, but probably best to check with someone who professionally pleats kilts.
High school uniform used knife pleats around complete skirt circumference, the top 2-3” were sewn down. I was in boarding school which meant we had to iron those skirts into pleated obedience before every wear. My first year I had new skirts and they would not sit or stay pleated once worn. 2nd year I inherited my sisters skirts which had been worn in and as such the pleats ironed easier and stayed nice the whole day. Smart Material choice is essential for happy pleat wearing.
Wow! That’s an awful lot of pleats and math! I cannot wait to see what you’ve chosen (probably all of them 😉 am I right?) and what fabric you choose (need to go buy! 😉) for next week, thank you for the giggles Charlie, you brighten my day ☺️💕
You could probably make a really cute stripwork skirt with all the pleat samples you created! I used to make stripwork skirts for my daughters and all you need to do is arrange the sections to your liking and sew them together, add an elastic waistband and hem the bottom! Thank you for doing all this, I'm not a math girl either. Though I think you area actually quite good at math! :)
I am SO excited that you're doing this deep dive into pleats!!! I desperately want to master pleating and did manage one knife pleated skirt but never got beyond the first mathematical fact i.e. it reduces your fabric width to one third. I couldn't figure out what type of pleating might reduce it more... So I am totally up for trying different types of pleating to keep the volume at the bottom while actually fitting my waist measurement. I can't wait to see the next installment 😊
Oh my gosh you make sewing so fun😂 love your samples, I m always too lazy for that and don't like to waste fabric. But I really learned a lot thanks!
In the rolled one you can put your fingers on opposite sides of the fabric and turn your hand 360°. It automatically creates the right shape into the pleat.
I learnt a lot from watching you learn about pleats, so thank you for your contribution of knowledge!
I've been watching your pleat videos to try to understand the construction of a skirt I bought to alter it, and they were so helpful! The skirt has ... seamed inverted box pleats, I think. The box pleat poofs? faces? are on the inside, and the two inside folded edges are seamed together (rather than top stitched) so neither the stitching nor the pleat is visible on the outside. I am a new sewist and I was very confused when I looked at it, but it gives the skirt a smooth (if slightly poofy) silhouette over the hips and then turns flowy at the bottom. Like a ruffle dress but without attaching separate fabric strips. Thanks for helping me figure out what was going on!
This video is such a great resource! As for smocking, I just followed a smocking workshop at a fashion museum near me, and I can highly advise it. It was kind of meditative feeling and I'm chomping at the bit to try my hand at using it in a garment. Bonus points for added stretchiness!
I hope you make a notebook with Samples of each pleats for feature reference.
I love the humor in your videos
This is excellent! A great way to learn by just doing it. I feel I would like to try it myself.
I really enjoy your presentation and your style of sarcasm.
Oooo! This is such a helpful reference video! Thank you!
I'm so glad I waited to watch this until your next video came out lol I'm not a patient person and I really want to see what you made 😂 off to watch the next one and see what you came up with! 💙
Saving another vid for future sewing endeavors
Ty ty 🎉❤
Accordion, plisse, fortuny, mushroom and fancy pleats are all types of fabric manipulation. There are services who do this with your fabric once you cut out your pieces
Also the easiest way to do crystal pleats/ knife pleats in general is to cartridge pleat and then iron them to one side
I have vintage skirt with pleated gussets. I'd like to try recreating sometime...maybe..
Stitched-down pleats help give a sleek appearance at the tummy and upper hip, releasing the fullness farther down.
Note how the box pleats on the blue skirt in your first example photo are stitched down for a few inches below the waistband, even farther in the inverted pleats on the pink skirt later.
the real beauty in some of the pleats comes only after you carefully press the fold line down the entire length of the fabric.
There are online pleat calculators.
So many different ways of looking at and dooing things. To me the Military Roll plead diagram look way more simple than what you were doing. Just a knife plead on top of a opisite facing knife plead.
The standard rolled one is also just two knife pleads atop each other. Same direction.
But your way works too
Any time I plan to do pleats I make it out of paper first so I have a guide of what the heck I'm supposed to be doing!
That's a great way to do it!
Smart idea!
Circle skirts-- you and me both. It's so bad, that for every unattached or new piece of fabric, I think -- "Oh, I can make a vintage dress out of this," and that jealous part of my brain whispers, "Or a skirt." And I might think, "Yes, a vintage skirt!" And again -- "Or a CIRCLE SKIRT!" (buys 5 yards) I have 60, I would like 400.
Right?? It's so easy, it's so swooshy, you know you'll feel amazing in it every time... I hate doing the same thing over and over again but then also I'm like... how can I resist??
A really wanna see the quadruple pleated skirt now!!!
If it helps, I'm pretty sure the rolled pleats are just knife pleats with the flaps folded in half, either back on top of themselves or tucked under
Your so funny, as a quilter, I was yelling similar things as you when I first started, all this damn mathing... But now I'm garment making and believe it or not it is easier than quilting LoL
I would also love to make a sack back dress, but where would I wear it! I have made Victorian and Edwardian dresses for theatre but everyday…..
I'm sorry to be the one saying it... But rolled pleats are larger knife pleats folded in half 😅 the direction of the fold been the difference between the two kinds
So yeah all pleats are knife pleats in the end 😂
Make a tutorial short for each of these pleats it would be so coool
“Yeah, listen to that struggle” 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
Pleats are fun! If not skirts then curtains 🤣
Or aprons😊
As a Scottish person, I’m going to try to help with the pronunciation of Kingussie! 😂😂 it’s probably easiest to break it up, King - youssy. It’s a town in Scotland 😘
I enjoyed learning about all the different ones. I really wish you would have spent more time showing how they turned out
I thoroughly enjoyed watching your learning experience 😅 I get myself in a middle with all the maths, too. How do you go with circle skirts? I always get confused with the formula for 1/2 and 3/4 circle skirts.
Okay, so circle skirts. For all of these you'll need to know the circumference of your waist and have a circle calculator on hand.
For a full circle skirt, you just plug your waist circumference into the calculator and that will give you the radius of the circle that you need for the waistline. (That's assuming you're not pleating or gathering, but I'm keeping it simple here.) Then you just add the length you want the skirt to be and draw the second circle.
For a half circle skirt, you multiply your waist circumference by two before plugging it into the calculator.
For a ¾ circle skirt, you multiply your waist circumference by four and divide it by three before shoving it in the calculator.
Meanwhile, for a double circle skirt you divide it in half, and for a 1.5 circle skirt you multiply by two and divide by three.
Basically, all you do is flip the fraction of a circle that the skirt is upside down and multiply your waist measurement by that.
Does that make _any_ sense?
If you'd like a video, Mariah Pattie has a really good one on circle skirt drafting math.
The 24:20 The MOST HELPFUL video ❤🎉
I think historically the deeper a pleat was the more wealthy you were because it take more fabric to make a garment or article of clothing. So those who couldn't afford so much fabric got creative in their ways to create the same results, thus leading to many similar pleats that only differ in the amount of fabric needed. And the only way to tell would be to actually look closely and measure the pleats. Today it doesn't really apply to social status but rather personal preference. Pleats were a symbol of opulence and/or luxury throughout history.
Also, points in history had historical patterns used by tailors with a standard measurement for pleats on garments made for the wealthy. If the pleats were smaller they were usually home made or made for the 'common folk'. Anything deeper than the standard were usually made for the high society.
snappy dragon has a great video specifically on pleat math for deep knife pleats
I feel you with the maths thing, it’s honestly one of my proudest achievements that I got a B on my maths GCSE woot
box pleats is my favorite way to hide in sem pockets and keep them from gaping
"joined at the hip" 😂
Question: If you’re doing lots of small pleats like the Crystal pleat…should you iron the fabric before you sew? or after you’ve sewn the top?
....now I want to make a skirt with the uber thicc pleats and a straight bolt of fabric
...I need the next vid
I love rolled pleats so much but they takenup *so* much fabric (5-7:1) compared to knife pleats which are just 3:1
There we got some brain-pleating stuff. I will look it through again and try deciding on a type of pleat to use-----, if I should get to wanting to pleat some fabric.
My oh-so-mature ass giggling uncontrollably at "Kingussie"
I'll be honest, I was kind of hoping that you would make some pleated-Frankensteined-skirt using all/most of the pleat samples you just made in the video, but then again that probably would look really awkward from every angle, haha.
Incidentally, there's a skirt pattern floating around out there made exclusively of fat quarters. :)
Godot pleats are what my mom would have called tennis skirt pleats
My brain is hurting, lol. I will do the first one and not think about the rest, for now
have you seen the hack that they use a fork to make the pleat?
I think that in order to fully appreciate the pleats, they need to be ironed down the length of the garment, otherwise, you really don't see all that work. Yes, it is swooshy, but I dont think that is what is supposed to happen with pleats. It is more about how they lay flat all down the skirt.
Have you tried pleating with a fork? I am not going to attempt to explain it in text. I think if you google it there are many resources with videos or pictures.
Box pleats suggest catholic school uniform skirts to me. I don’t know why…
Just fyi, you've been calling box pleats and inverted box pleats the opposite things.
It’s pronounced go day…🤓
Search for "jupe à godet" on google and you'll get your answer, it's not necessarily adding more fabric, but you'll need to piece together several parts to be able to acheive a skirt or smth